Chapter 5: Trial of the Broken Moon

The door sounded louder than the Council’s footsteps.

Just like that, they were gone.

I stood in the middle of the room, my arms wrapped around myself, staring at the door as if it might open again and swallow me whole. The words crowned or executed kept buzzing in my head like bees.

Executed.

Derek didn’t move at first. He stood tall, still wearing the face of a king, but I could feel the tension rolling off him. It pressed into my skin. Made my wolf restless.

Finally, he turned to me.

“You shouldn’t have spoken,” he said quietly.

I laughed, short and broken. “They were already deciding whether to kill me. What difference does my voice make?”

His jaw tightened. He walked closer, stopping just in front of me.

“You don’t understand the Council,” he said. “They don’t punish crime. They punish imbalance.”

I shook my head. “I didn’t ask for this.”

“No,” he agreed. “But you triggered it.”

The fire popped behind us. The dead guard was gone now. I didn’t know who had removed him. I didn’t want to know.

I slid down onto the edge of the bed, my legs finally giving up. My hands were shaking so badly I pressed them between my knees.

“They said I was forbidden,” I whispered. “What does that even mean?”

Derek didn’t answer right away.

That scared me more than if he had.

“It means,” he said slowly, “that bonds like yours don’t end quietly.”

I looked up at him. “Bonds like mine?”

“Poly-bonds,” he said. “Twin-anchored Lunas. Power that pulls in two directions at once.”

My chest felt tight. “You said the law recognizes it.”

“It does,” he said. “On paper.”

I stood up again, anger flaring through the fear. “Then why are they threatening to kill me?”

“Because the last time it happened,” he said, “an entire bloodline burned.”

The room felt colder.

I took a step back. “You’re saying people like me have existed before.”

“Yes.”

“And they died.”

“They destroyed everything first.”

My throat closed. Images flashed through my mind that weren’t mine. Wolves tearing each other apart.

I pressed a hand to my chest.

“That’s not me,” I said. “I wouldn’t”

“I know,” Derek said firmly. “But the Council doesn’t judge intent. They judge potential.”

The shadows in the room shifted.

Jax stepped out like he had been there the whole time.

“Potential scares old men,” he said. “Especially when it doesn’t belong to them.”

I flinched, my heart jumping, but something inside me relaxed when I saw him. I didn’t like that. I didn’t trust it.

“You heard everything,” I said.

“Enough,” he replied.

He leaned against the wall, arms crossed, eyes sharp.

“They’ll call it a trial,” Jax continued. “But it’s not.”

“What is it, then?” I asked.

“A test,” he said. “To see if you break.”

Derek shot him a warning look. “Enough.”

“No,” I said quickly. “I want to know.”

Jax pushed off the wall and walked closer. He stopped a few steps away, like he was giving me space on purpose.

“They’ll make you stand in a ritual circle,” he said. “They’ll push both bonds at once. Derek’s control. My chaos.”

My stomach turned. “And if I react?”

“If your body answers both,” Jax said, “they’ll call you unstable.”

“And kill me,” I finished.

Silence fell.

I rubbed my arms, suddenly aware of every inch of my skin. Of how alive it felt. Too alive.

“Can you stop it?” I asked Derek. “Can you block him?”

Derek shook his head. “Not without hurting you.”

I turned to Jax. “Can you hide?”

He smiled, but it wasn’t kind. “I could. But then you’d only have half your strength.”

My hands curled into fists. “So I’m damned either way.”

“No,” Derek said sharply. “You’re not.”

He knelt in front of me, forcing me to look at him.

“Listen to me, Raya. Whatever happens at dawn, you are not alone. I will not let them take you.”

“And if they try?” I asked.

His eyes burned gold. “Then the Council falls.”

My breath almost seized.

I looked at Jax.

He shrugged. “I’ll enjoy it.”

Despite everything, a weak sound escaped me. Almost a laugh. It shocked me how close tears were.

“I just wanted my life,” I said. “I wanted my mate. My pack. My name.”

“You still have your name,” Derek said.

“And now it means death,” I whispered.

Jax stepped closer. He didn’t touch me, but I felt him anyway. Like heat at my back.

“You’re wrong,” he said. “Now it means fear.”

Footsteps echoed outside.

Guards.

Not Drail’s men this time. Montenegro colors.

“The Council summons the Luna,” a voice called through the door. “The trial begins at dawn.”

Dawn.

I looked out the window. The sky was already turning grey.

So fast.

They didn’t give me time to prepare or to think. Maybe that was the point.

Derek offered me his hand. I hesitated only a second before taking it.

Jax fell into step behind me as we walked through the halls. Eyes followed us. Whispers clung to the walls.

“She has two scents…”

“Is she cursed?”

“She’ll tear them apart…”

The ceremonial grounds were open to the sky. Stone pillars ringed a wide circle carved into the earth.

The pack was already gathered.

I felt them before I saw them.

The Council stood at the far end. The same sharp-eyed woman from before held a silver blade that glowed faintly in the moonlight.

“The Trial of the Broken Moon will commence,” she announced.

Derek squeezed my hand.

Jax’s presence pressed closer.

I stepped into the circle.

The air changed instantly.

It felt like standing on the edge of something deep and endless.

“State your name,” the woman commanded.

“Raya Tyndall,” I said.

“State your bond.”

My mouth went dry.

Before I could answer, a scent hit me. Something quite familiar.

Wrong.

My head snapped up.

The crowd parted.

She walked forward slowly, confidently, wearing a pale dress that looked just like the one I had once dreamed of wearing as Luna.

My face stared back at me.

My sister smiled.

The moon above us flared bright.

And it answered her first.